frtom Scott Burnside of ESPN,

An important night for the St. Louis Blues Thursday on a number of levels. First, beating the Nashville Predators 4-3 vaulted the Blues past the surprising Preds into first place in the Central Division.

Perhaps more important, though, was the fact the game featured the return of T.J. Oshie, who had missed seven games with a concussion, and Oshie scored his first goal of the season early in the first period.

The game marked the first time this season Blues head coach Ken Hitchcock had a full range of players at his disposal, with Oshie back and offseason free-agent signee Paul Stastny back in the swing of things after missing much of the first month of the season with injury. Stastny scored his second goal of the season late in regulation to send the Blues to their 9th win in 10 games. Backup (or 1B netminder if you prefer) Jake Allen was terrific for a Blues team that might now be as good a team as there is in the league.

read on for Custance on Avs/Rangers, LeBrun on Bruins/Habs and Strang on Kings/Stars....